Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern
to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights,
civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive
freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance
reform, the environment
and tax fairness. No political party could
remain so consistently wrong by accident.
The only rational conclusion is
that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party
is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people
in
favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.

female staffer discovered dead under mysterious circumstances (a "self-inflicted blow to the head") in Scarborough's
Florida office was ignored by the media. Shortly after, Scarborough
resigned his seat for "family reasons." Now Scarborough hosts his own show
on MSNBC -- and gloats about getting Danny Glover fired from MCI.

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Who leaked our plan to eliminate overtime pay for workers? That was supposed
to wait until after 2004. Get that sonofabitch on a small, poorly serviced plane
ASAP!

lying about the justifications for war, precious few said so publicly. Why?
Apparently they were afraid that resist-
ance to Bush's war would be used
against them in attack ads during the next election.

Those cowards
who knew better but stayed quiet and "went along" with the Republican goose-stepping
on Iraq are the reasons for the growing insignificance of the Democratic
Party. The same can be said for Democratic acquiescence on a host of disastrous
GOP policy initiatives -- such as the series of tax cuts for the wealthy.
It's Democrats like those who give life to the GOP caricature of the mamby-pamby
bed-wetting liberal. Only in the resistance to radical GOP judicial
appointments have the Dems shown some backbone.

If lifelong Democrats
have to hold their noses to vote for gutless, unprincipled Democratic candidates
as the "lesser of two evils," how the hell do we expect to attract the independents
and apoliticals?

For the Democrats to survive as a viable
political party,
IT MUST STAND FOR SOMETHING and put its ideals
to
the test every day. The Democratic Party must have candidates who view power
as a means to an end -- not an end to itself.

The ends, of
course, are easy: traditional Democratic values of full employment, progressive
taxation, com-
mitment to public education, quality health care for every
American, separation of church and state, protection of the environment, the
reestablishment of the Fairness Doctrine, military strength coupled with a rational
foreign policy, and with liberty and justice for all.

If the Democratic
Party were to rededicate itself to these ideals, we'd see the Green Party
adherents return to the fold. The voters, given a choice between two differing
views of the function of government could then make a choice. As it
stands now, the voters don't have a much of a choice between the GOP and GOP-lite.

For
immediate political impact, the party should stage
a televised
mass signing by all Democratic office-holders and candidates of a pledge
to uphold these principles.
Those Democrats unwilling to sign should
be dropped from the party (they probably would be voting with the Republicans
anyway).

The GOP has been the voice of a radical, but powerful,
minority. The Democrats have been, and must remain "the voice of the people."
It's been Democratic initiatives that have brought forth the programs
that have actually improved the lives of average Americans and earned the respect
of the rest of the planet. The Republicans only offer tax cuts and lies
-- it's all they've got. Give the American voter a real choice between
these two competing visions of America.

One definition of insanity
is to repeat the same action while expecting a different result. The stakes
are far
too high -- the well-being of literally hundreds of millions
of Americans -- to allow the GOP to continue its destruc-
tive domination
of American politics. As chairman of
the Democratic Party it's
up to you to lead, or failing that, to step aside to permit more effective leadership.

It's hard to be a Democrat these
days. American progressives have
a long history of supporting the Democratic
Party as the engine for social justice, economic prosperity and rational
foreign policy, and still reflexively vote Democratic. But in
all due
respect, sir, it's becoming more and more difficult.

And it's not because
we're becoming more conservative. It's because the Democratic Party
has ceased to be an effective political force. Instead
of a party committed
to principles and ideals, the Democrats have devolved into, as Arianna Huffington recently opined, a party of "dithering poltroons." Sadly, this is an all-too-
accurate
description.

First, about the "dithering."

Since
the stolen "judicial selection" of 2000, the Democrats have dith-
ered
on the Republicans' disastrous economic programs, Bush's erosion of the
wall of church-state sepa-
ration, the neocon's radical foreign policies,
and the right-wing's abso-
lute monopoly on political debate in the public
airwaves.

We traditional Democrats are left wondering "Where's the
leader-
ship?" Is anybody in charge of mounting an effective, coordinated
opposition to the Republicans? Is there any coordination between
the various Democratic interest groups? While we expect to be outspent by
the GOP, the Dems have at least been in the game. Where's the money going?

Judging by the political success of the GOP in recent years, the
Dems have all the fire and determination of Wiley Coyote peeling himself from
the pavement after being steam-
rolled by Roadrunner. Has anyone at
the DNC noticed that for the Republicans, politics is bomb-the-
civilians-and-execute-the-prisoners
total war? The Dems have been playing by Marquis
de Queensbury rules, and still don't seem to realize we're getting our asses
kicked electorally.

Is there a Democratic counterpart to the
legions of conservative think tanks and foundations? These are some of the
GOP's most potent weapons. With the trappings and gravitas of academe, these
organi-
zations provide the intellectual Viagra for GOP candidates, policy-
makers,
pundits and talk-show hosts. While corporate interests lavishly
fund these organizations (which in turn distribute funds as upper-class "walking-around"
money), between organized labor, Hollywood, and progressive mil-
lionaires,
the Left should be able to endow an effective (as in actually
influencing middle-class voters) intellectual counterbalance to the Right. After
all, ours should be a much easier sell.

Considering that GOP policies
are harmful to the vast majority of Americans, in an astute electorate the
GOP wouldn't survive as a major political party. But right-wing think tanks
have been brilliantly succes-
sful in honing effective rhetoric and propaganda
and have imposed rigid rhetorical discipline on their cadres. For
example, Republicans consis-
tently refer to the Democratic Party as the
"Democrat" party. Or take the so-called "Death Tax." The
GOP
has capitalized on a tax imposed on a tiny fraction of the wealthiest estates
and fraudulently convinced average voters that the government will confiscate their
small bequests.

Republican rhetoric can easily be challenged.
For instance, why hasn't the DNC countered with a counter-characterization
of the "Unearned Wealth Tax"? The DNC doesn't seem to realize that the
Republicans are using rhetoric as a highly effective weapon. The Dem-
ocrats
have been unwilling or unable to craft an effective response. It's
been Machiavelli vs. Mayberry, with predictable results.

Of course,
Republican propaganda wouldn't be as successful as it is without a compliant
press. Obvious GOP fibs are reported as "news" with zero critical analysis.
Amer-
ican network coverage, such as in the lead-in and during the war
in Iraq, is so disgracefully credulous as to abrogate their essential function
as
a "free press." As more and more media is consolidated, this situation
will get only worse, with network news ultimately assuming the same role
as talk radio has today (i.e., shameless GOP cheerleaders).
This is absolutely
poisonous to our democracy -- but where is the Democratic opposition?

Which
brings us to the "poltroon" part of Ms. Huffington's character-
ization.

Republicans
could never have been so successful without
an "oppos-
ition" fearful of risking their popular-
ity. Democrat
political cowardice has been instrumental in GOP success. Democrats' waffling
on the justifica-
tions for the war in Iraq are illustra-
tive.
While the majority of Demo-
cratic (and Republicans, for that matter)
members of Congress were surely sophisticated enough to know Bush was obviously,
shamelessly